Load supporting pallet



United States Patent 3,036,802 LOAD SUPPORTING PALLET Thorne C. Kitchell, New Providence, N.J., assignor to Union Bag-Camp Paper Corporation, New York, N .Y., a corporation of Virginia Filed Mar. 14, 1960, Ser. No. 14,816 2 Claims. (Cl. 248-120) The present invention relates to improvements in the stacking of bagged materials for shipping and storage. More particularly it pertains to a load bearing device and the method of stacking a plurality of filled heavy bags or sacks on such device to form a balanced unit load.

The device and method of the present invention were designed to satisfy a need created by the trend toward palletization of truck shipments in the cement industry. Samples of competitive pallets were obtained and tested in order to determine the advantages and shortcomings of each. From the results of these tests and on the basis of information received from the cement industry, the present device and method of stacking were designed. Such device loaded with filled cement bags has been found to stand up under fork truck handling and stacking, loading on trucks, shipment, unloading from trucks at destination, and storage. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device and method of stacking which have the following advantages:

A. The device is of simple design, is easy to set up and requires less assembly time than those of competition.

B. It is much stronger than competitive pallets in stacking strength.

C. The design of this device leaves no sharp edges for possible cutting or puncturing of the filled bags.

D. It is adaptable to all standard fork lift truck equip ment.

E. The size can be adapted to certain size bags for products other than cement.

F. It provides a very stable load, adequate stacking strength and handling ability in warehousing.

G. It is readily disposable.

H. It is extremely light in weight thus assuring a heavier payload of cement per truck.

I. It relieves the cement companies of the responsibility of maintaining an inventory of heavy wooden pallets for their individual customers.

I. It increases the efficiency and decreases the number of men needed in unloading a truck.

Although the present invention was designed for truck shipments in the cement industry, it is a further object of the invention to provide a device and method of stacking which is likewise satisfactory and has many of the same advantages in other types of shipments in other industries.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the article possessing the features, properties and the relation of elements, which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the spacing web;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one of the supporting channel members;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective top view of one form of strip for securing the channel member to the web;

3,036,802 Patented May 29, 1962 FIGURE 4 is a sectional view showing the channel members secured to the web by means of the strip of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of a channel member, a portion of the web and a modification of the strip or tape for securing the channel member to the web;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view of the elements of FIG- URE 5 with the tape secured around the channel member;

FIGURE 7 shows a portion of the web with the cutouts modified to provide retaining flaps;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 6 showing the channel member positioned between the retaining flaps of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a top plan view illustrating the first layer of bags placed on the device of the present invention;

FIGURE 10 is a top plan view illustrating the second layer of bags loaded on the device;

FIGURE 11 is a side view in elevation illustrating three layers of bags loaded on the device.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a sheet or web 20 substantially rectangular in shape which is provided with spaced slots 21 for receiving the strip or tape which will hold the supporting channel members to the sheet. The sheet 20 may be made of corrugated board or other suitable fibrous board. How ever, since this sheet is non-load bearing as hereinafter explained, it does not need to be rigid but instead may be flexible or semi-rigid. It will thus be evident that nfiaterials other than paper or board may be used for this s eet.

A pair of load supporting channel members 22 are secured to the web 20 with the curved surface upward as illustrated in FIGURES 4, 6 and 8. Such channel members are of sufficient width to permit insertion of the forks of a fork lift conveying device and are spaced on the web to receive such forks. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4 the channel members 22 are held in place by the strip 23 (FIGURE 3) which is threaded through the slots 21 and around the channel members 22 as shown and which functions as a strap. Such strip is held to the web 20 by stitching or adhesive and is provided with score lines 23a to facilitate bending the strip around the channels. The channels 22 may be made of corrugated stock, laminated wood or paper, or light weight metal. However, it has been found that stock cores made of laminated kraft paper can be cut in half lengthwise to provide the two half rolls illustrated.

In the modification shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 the channels 22 are secured to the web 20 by means of a tape 24 which is inserted in the adjacent slots 21, wrapped around the channel and adhered thereto. Although various forms of tape have been used, a reinforced gummed tape has been found quite satisfactory.

To further prevent any shifting of the channels 22 on the Web 20, the modifications of FIGURES 7 and 8 have been beneficial. Referring to FIGURE 7, it will be seen that retaining flaps 25 are formed by the threesided cut-outs of the slots 21 and are turned into upright position against the sides of the channels. The tape 24, heretofore described, is then inserted in the slots 21, wrapped around the flaps 25 and channels 22 and adhered thereto.

FIGURES 9, l0 and 11 show one pattern for load ing bags on the device of the present invention. It will be seen in FIGURE 9 that three bags are placed on face lengthwise over the convex surface of each channel so that they are butted along a line running through the center of the web 20. This pattern forms a bottom layer of six bags. In loading in this manner the two center bags are usually positioned first and then the four outer bags are laid in place slightly overlapping the center bags. This prevents overhang of the bags at the fork entrances of the channels. If overhang does occur, there is a possibility of the forks puncturing the bags on insertion into the channels. The second layer is loaded at right angles to the first layer still following the six bag pattern (FIGURE The third layer is loaded the same as the first (FIGURE 11). Each additional layer is reversed and thus forms a very stable interlocked pattern. If larger size bags are used a different pattern may be followed. In such case two bags are laid lengthwise across each channel and butted at the center line for a total of four bags on the bottom layer. This method of loading prevents the possibility of the outer bags overhanging the entrances for the forks. The second layer and succeeding layers consist of the normal six bag pattern with alternate layers loaded at right angles to each other.

In test shipments and point of destination inspections, it has been found that these devices loaded with 30 to 36 bags each, have been stacked successfully four high. The channels have held up extremely well under loads in excess of 12,000 pounds without collapsing. Since the slots 21 are positioned along the outer sides of each channel, the web provides a cover member over the base of the channel. This prevents the bags in the top layer or course of a unit load from closing the longitudinal openings in the channels of the next unit load when such loads are stacked on top of each other, and permits unloading the top stack from the stack immediately below it. No special fork truck equipment is necessary in order to be able to handle this device. The only precautions that must be observed are that the forks be on correct centers and that they enter directly into the channels and not on an angle. It must be emphasized that this device is expandable or disposable and is not intended to be the equivalent of a wooden pallet. In the device of the present invention the bags are supported by the channel members and the web merely serves as a guide or spacer between the channel members. Such web does not act as a load bearing surface as in the case of the platform of a conventional pallet or the sling type web in the lifting skid disclosed in Patent No. 2,698,696. In these conventional pallets and the said lifting skid the platform or sling carries the entire load which platform or sling is in turn supported by legs, channels or other supporting members. For this reason this device is not in the true sense a pallet and should be distinguished therefrom.

The device of the present invention can be set up and assembled at a much faster rate and at a lower cost than competitive pallets now on the market. Furthermore, these devices once set up require less storage space than those offered by competition due to the ability of these devices to be nested for storage.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above method, and certain modifications in the article which embody the invention may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A shipping unit comprising a sheet member having a plurality of pairs of slots therein, a plurality of semicylindrical fork-engaging channel members hollow throughout their entire length resting on opposite sides of each sheet member with the convex surface of the channel member facing outwardly, said pairs of slots spaced apart to form aligning means for each of said channel members and adapted to engage strapping means for anchoring said channel members in alignment to said sheet member, each of said channel members being positioned in between a pair of slots, a flexible strap member securing each of said channel members along said sheet member, said strap member extending from the under surface edge at one side of said sheet member up through the nearest adjacent opening of one of the said slot members over the top of said convex surface, down the other side of said convex surface and through the other slot of said pair, then extending under the central under surface portion of said sheet member to the near slot of the other of said pair of slots for the other channel member, up through the opening of the first slot of the next pair over the top of said channel member and down through the opening of the other slot of the next pair and along the under surface of said sheet member to the opposite under surface edge, said straps, sheet member and channel member being secured together in an integral load bearing structure.

2. A shipping unit as in claim 1 in which said sheet member is made of corrugated paper board and said channel member are formed of laminated paper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,570,757 Bowman Oct. 9, 1951 2,691,500 Baumann Oct. 12, 1954 2,774,490 Strong Dec. 18, 1956 2,930,481 Bebie Mar. 29, 1960 2,960,244 Strong Nov. 15, 1960 

